


The Resurrection of Cedric Diggory

by aesthetic_warning



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Cedric Diggory Lives, Established Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Good Draco Malfoy, Hand Wavey Magic, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Overpowered Cedric Diggory, Protective Harry Potter, Resurrection, Slow Burn, Temporary Character Death, bullshit worldbuilding, cedric diggory freaks out about a LOT of stuff, eventually, frankly i do not blame him, theyre dead though and not in it so i didn’t add it to the ship tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:26:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29647821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aesthetic_warning/pseuds/aesthetic_warning
Summary: Waking up 4 years in the future only to find out he’s been dead the whole time and now he has to readjust to modern life? Not exactly Cedric’s idea of a good time. Finding out he suddenly has more power in his pinky finger than every other wizard or witch at the school combined? Well that certainly isn’t helping. At least he can count on the Boy Who Lived to help the new Boy Who Lived Again...
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 20





	The Resurrection of Cedric Diggory

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this back in like. september. and just now remembered it existed. enjoy!

He would never admit it, but Cedric hadn’t heard a word Harry said in the past 5 minutes. Of course, he had a few very good excuses as to why his ears and brain seemed to have gone through a bad break up- like waking up and finding out he had been dead and now everyone he knows is 4 years older, or the fact that the people who killed him are all dead and there was an entire war he missed. 

Or the fact that, in those four years he was dead ( _ Actually fucking dead. How is he supposed to wrap his head around that? _ ) Harry Potter had quite the incredible puberty, if his current looks were any evidence. Cedric was having a hard time deciding if the ringing in his ears was due to the shock of finding out he’s apparently done the impossible and come back to life, or if his brain was just reeling because he was currently in the midst of a sexual awakening because of a boy who, yesterday but actually 4 years ago, hadn’t even lost all the baby fat from his cheeks. 

“What do you last remember?” Harry asked, forcing Cedric to actually think about what he had very pointedly been avoiding- his own death. Luckily for him, no matter how hard he tried to think back, the last memory he has is of touching the Triwizard Cup. 

Cedric was confused, tired, and had just found out he was dead and the world completely changed, so Harry should be able to forgive him for breaking down into tears in front of him. While he was kneeling down to comfort him, the younger (older, now, isn’t he?) boy looked around the hallway, immediately spotting a 4th year quickly walking towards them, probably after hearing Cedric. He waved her over. 

“Can you go get Professor McGonagall? Tell her it’s urgent,” she nodded and rushed off. After a moment, Harry leaned down and began rubbing Cedric’s back. “I know it’s confusing, and it’s scary, I get it, but soon we’ll figure everything out, and it’ll all start to make sense, ok? You’re going to be fine,” he said quietly, looking around in an equal mix of wonder and hesitation as objects in the hallway appeared to shake around them, and ignored how it seemed that each sob the boy released sent a jolt of static electricity down Harry’s back, and ‘ _ wow, Harry sure had learned the art of graceful reassurance and comfort in the years I’ve been d- gone’ _ Cedric thought to himself, as his crying slowly faded into sniffles and his eyelids grew heavy. 

Before he could truly drift off, the sharp noise of heels clacking on stone made him look up, and the familiar sight of an understandably fuming Minerva McGonagall rushing towards him was like a wave of relief. She would surely know what to do. 

“This better be good, Mr. Potter, I was-“ She stopped suddenly, gaping in the middle of the hallway once she caught a sight of a puffy eyed Cedric kneeling on the cold floor. “Mr. Diggory. What? But- no, is this?” she looked at Harry in confusion, her brows furrowing when he shrugged. “My office. Immediately,” with that she turned on her heel and walked away, slowing down as Harry helped Cedric off the ground. 

The three of them walked away, but to Cedric’s surprise and confusion, didn’t stop when they neared the Transfiguration classroom, and instead stopped in front of the Headmaster’s office. McGonagall summoned the stairs and ushered the two in, and Cedric realized just how much had changed in the years he was gone when she sat down at the Headmaster’s desk. 

“Explain,” she told them as they sat down, Cedric’s eyes wildly scanning the room, looking for the differences he could note from the few times he had ever been in Dumbledore’s office, and McGonagall’s current office. It certainly had a warmer feel, but that could just be the current shock in his system, and the fact that every previous visit to this office had him shaking with anxiety beforehand. 

Harry shook his head and leaned forward, resting a (greatly appreciated) hand on Cedric’s forearm. “I have no idea. I was walking down the hallway and then I heard someone fall. I assumed it was some lost 3rd year or something and went to help them out and then...” he trailed off, looking at the two other people in the room. “I had been pacing in that hallway and he hadn’t been there when I first walked by,” He added, before leaning back in his seat, clearly out of information. McGonagall sighed and turned to Cedric. 

“What do you last remember?” she asked, her tone suddenly gentle as she took in his clearly wrecked appearance. He swallowed nervously. 

“Well I was in the maze, and then Harry- he saved me, from... something. Why can’t I remember?” he muttered, before shaking his head. “And then we were in front of the cup- or maybe we... no we were at the cup and we touched it, and then I was in a room I’ve never seen before and there was nothing else in it so I left, and then I was in hallway and when I turned around again the door was gone and I freaked out and tripped over a rug-“ he was truly rambling at this point, obviously frantic, “-and then Harry came over and he told me- he told me I was  _ dead _ and, and so were my friends- or they all graduated because it’s- it’s been 4 years and I’ve-“ and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. Cedric gasped, the air refusing to travel to his lungs, tears he hadn’t noticed earlier now streaking down his face. 

McGonagall startled, leaning forward to go help, but before she could get out from behind her desk, Harry fell out of his seat onto his knees in front of Cedric, gently pulling his hands away from where they were roughly pulling at his hair. 

“Hey. Hey,” Harry said, quietly but forcefully, trying to get his attention. “Breathe in with me, count to 8, that’s right, in with me,” he spoke calmly, clearly well-versed in how to help a friend in the midst of a panic attack. “Ok, that’s good, breathe out with me, out for 4, good, ok in again…” slowly but surely, Cedric’s breathing got deeper and slower, and he rubbed his puffy eyes and slumped back in his chair, clearly exhausted. McGonagall looked at him softly. She turned towards the right of the boy and spelled the chair next to him into a sofa. 

“Get some rest, Mr. Diggory,” she said quietly as Harry led Cedric over to the couch. “We’ll talk more about this once you’ve had some time to clear your head and calm down,” 

***

Harry sat back down in his seat, looking over sadly at the boy drifting off a few feet away. He and McGonagall sat in silence for a few minutes, neither of them willing to make a noise as they stared at Cedric where he had finally fallen asleep. The tension hung thick between them as their minds both floundered, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. Harry sighed.

“It’s… weird, to see him now,” he explained, looking down at his hands as McGonagall eyed him. “I only knew him when he was this Cool, Older 6th Year boy, the perfect student, the real Hogwarts Champion,” he explained, looking back over at Cedric. “After he died, he changed in my head from untouchable, to just a boy who was killed too young, an innocent victim in a war that wasn’t even his to fight,” he leaned back, sighing as he dragged his hands down his face. “He was never real to me, I guess. And now that he’s back, I just- I have no idea how to look at him,” he confessed. Harry sat there for a moment, before shaking his head. “But it isn’t even about me- I shouldn’t-”

“I would recommend, Mr. Potter,” McGonagall started, still staring at Cedric, “that you try to think of Mr. Diggory as your friend. He’s going to need one, after all,” she muttered that last one regretfully, as if this all was somehow her fault. Harry nodded, leaning back as his mind wandered yet again to the mystery of how Cedric had come back. He thought back to what the boy had earlier said, and his eyes widened. 

“He came out of the Room of Requirement,” Harry said suddenly, looking up in shock at McGonagall. “He said the door disappeared behind him, and he was right in front of where it used to be- still is, I guess,” he explained, his tone a mix of confusion and wonder. “I had assumed the Room was destroyed last year- in the fire,”

McGonagall considered this, nodding after a moment. “That would make the most sense, that he awoke in that room, but it would mean someone had needed him there outside of it,” she said, looking at him pointedly. He shrugged. 

“I wasn’t thinking about him, I was thinking about homework, Headmistress, specifically yours,” he joked, smirking a bit when she leveled him with an unimpressed look. “I was pacing thinking about how much you assigned for transfiguration and then my mind got to wandering and-“ his eyes widened. “-and I started thinking about the tournament, and how Cedric turned that stone into a dog and how he’d be great help on this essay,” Harry looked over at the couch where the boy was asleep in shock. McGonagall snorted, and he whirled around to look at her in confusion and surprise. 

She shook her head and sighed, clearly suppressing a smile. “Only you, Potter, would manage to bring a man back from the dead simply because you needed help on your homework,”

“That wasn’t my intention!” he defended, realizing belatedly that it was probably a bit too loud for the boy asleep a few feet away. Luckily, Cedric didn’t wake. McGonagall shook her head and sighed. 

“Your theory has a flaw, Mr. Potter, and it’s that the Room of Requirement simply doesn’t have the magical capabilities to bring someone back to life. Almost nothing does, just a few rituals that you already know about, or plain luck mixed with circumstance,” she told him, and he nodded, thinking back to every time he or Voldemort had evaded death, whether it be by the Flesh Blood and Bone ritual, or other circumstantial magical occurrences.

Harry looked up at his Headmistress suddenly. “What if that’s it?”

“What if what’s it?”

“What if it wasn’t  _ just  _ the Room? What if- what if it was like how I survived last year because of a totally unrepeatable series of events and circumstances that are so unlikely to happen at all that the fact that they all happened in a row is statistically almost completely improbable!” 

McGonagall shook her head. “There are a lot of flaws in your logic, Mr. Potter-”

He looked at her, passion and a righteous fury fighting for dominance in his eyes. “Like what, Headmistress? We don’t know  _ anything _ ! There are so many unknown variables. And we have no idea what magical limitations there  _ truly _ are. Just a few years ago it wasn’t even heard of to make a horcrux a human being, yet here I am!” 

She smiled at him. It was small, as she wasn’t the ‘cheeky smile’ type, but Harry knew it was a proud smile. 

“I see Miss Granger’s rubbed off on you in the logical sense, Mr. Potter?” 

He smirked right back at her. “It’s been 8 years. It was bound to happen at some point, I suppose,” his grin fell when he heard a shuffle from the couch, and immediately looked over to Cedric, who was sitting upright, breathing heavily. Harry moved to get out of his seat, but froze when Cedric locked eyes with him. Because ‘ _ hey _ ,’ Harry thought to himself. ‘ _ I think it’s a little worrying that his eyes are glowing’ _

McGonagall wasn’t paying attention to Cedric, which under normal circumstances would be unfit behavior of a teacher, but these were unquestionably unusual circumstances, seeing as how it’s not every day that every single object in the Headmistress’s office starts floating a foot meter off the ground. When Harry gasped quietly she rounded on the two boys, eyes widening as she took in the sight of Cedric, his eyes glowing white and pale yellow unstable looking magic crackling around his fingers. 

Suddenly as it started, it stopped, and everything around them crashed down to the floor. The floor directly below the Headmistress’s office, that is, as the ground underneath Harry’s feet vanished in an instant, leaving everything in the room in a freefall towards the next level down. 

Harry decided very quickly that he did not very much enjoy the feeling of falling when he hadn’t even been on a broom beforehand. Falling when you’re playing quidditch? Unsurprising- there are figurative and literal safety nets in place for that. Falling when you had previously been sitting relaxed in a chair and now you and that chair are hurtling towards the stone floor that’s rapidly approaching? Very frightening, quite the bad experience. 

Luckily for the three of them, McGonagall still has some of the sharpest wits in the castle and managed to cast a cushioning charm right before they landed. Unluckily for everything else in the room, the charm only works on people, so Harry watched as ancient wooden furniture broke to pieces around them. He also saw out of the corner of his eye, as Cedric looked around at the destruction in horror and confusion. 

“What-“ he choked out, gaping at the damage he had unwittingly caused, “what just happened?” Piled around them were splintered shards of wood and shattered pieces of different glass relics. Somehow, all of the debris had managed to completely miss Cedric, forming a circle around where he sat on the ground. 

As gracefully as she could, McGonagall stood up, dusting herself off as she began speaking. “I was hoping you could explain that, Mr. Diggory, as Mr. Potter and I certainly don’t possess the power to levitate every object in a room at the same time, and then  _ vanish a floor _ ,” 

Cedric flushed, looking up at the Headmistress’s office, perfectly visible from where they were all sitting in an empty classroom, a floor below where they had once been. “I don’t either,” he said weakly, coming to realize just what he had apparently accidentally done. 

Harry shrugged. “Well, I guess that’s another thing to tack on to the end of our list of things to figure out,” 

“The end? I daresay the importance of finding out the capabilities and limitations of Mr. Diggory outweighs the need to sate your curiosity of how he’s come back to life,” 

“All signs point to his new powers being a result of his coming back in the first place,” Harry argued. “If we figure out exactly how it is he managed to resurrect himself, it would probably help point us in the right direction of controlling of his magic,”

“If it even  _ can  _ be controlled,”

“Every kid does accidental magic before they learn how to control it-”

“Yes, Potter! Things like levitating a blanket, or changing the color of their teddy bear. They do not perform accidental magic to the extent of the  _ destruction of an entire office-” _

“Let’s just do both,” Cedric interrupted, his voice commanding and calm as if he knew what he was doing. Harry had heard that same tone coming out of his own mouth plenty of times, so he could also hear the fraying around the edges. He knew that the other boy was one more big revelation from just giving up completely. 

Harry nodded, understanding that the last thing Cedric needed right now was an argument. He turned to McGonagall. “I’m going to take him to the 8th year common room- he barely knows any of the current 6th years- maybe you could send out some letters? To people who might be able to help figure…” he gestured to the chaos surrounding them, “... everything out,”

She was already getting out the parchment. “First I’ll write to his parents, he-” she stopped suddenly, sighing her eyes betraying her emotions as she took in the sight of Cedric, who’s so much  _ younger _ than she remembered, “Your parents will be here as soon as they get the letter, Mr. Diggory,” she said, her tone softening. “They’ll help you adjust, I’m sure,”

Harry put his arm on Cedric’s shoulder and steered him out the door, hoping the empty classroom they had landed in was even connected to the main hallways. Luckily for them, it only took a few minutes for Harry to realize where they were on the sixth floor, and he managed to lead Cedric towards the newly minted “8th Year Common Room”

***

The moment they stepped through the door, they heard a gasp and a thud, and Harry let out a resigned sigh. Cedric turned to look at what was surprising, when he came face to face with a girl he didn’t recognize. She was gaping at him, eyes darting around his face, like if she found just one flaw it would turn out that he was just her mind playing tricks on her. 

“Cedric?” 

Oh. Hermione Granger. His eyes widened as he realized the woman standing in front of him was the girl who was almost 2 feet shorter than her date to the Yule Ball. He gave her a small smile in greeting. Immediately, she whirled around to Harry, anger and confusion clear on her face. 

“What the  _ fuck _ Harry? What happened to the ‘incident free 8th year’ you were so excited about? It hasn’t even been a  _ month _ ,” Harry sighed, rolling his eyes as he looked around the common room. No one else was in there, so Cedric’s presence was still unknown to the rest of the school. He dragged a hand over his face, clearly thinking about his next move. 

“Let’s go to my room- Hermione can you get Ron? Thanks,” he muttered, already walking off towards a hallway to the right of them, doors lining each wall clearly leading off to a student’s room, Cedric in tow. 

As they neared the end of the hallway, a door opened right in front of them, stopping the two in their tracks. A boy stepped right in front of them, instantly recognizable as Draco Malfoy. Cedric tensed up, remembering the rivalry the two had during the tournament, the Potter Stinks badges quickly coming to mind. Draco looked at him, his eyes widening in shock for a moment before he chuckled, already moving to walk away. 

“Only you, Potter,” the boy muttered, slapping a friendly hand on Harry’s shoulder as he passed by. Harry just rolled his eyes fondly and turned around. 

“You busy, Draco? We could probably use some help,” he asked, leaning casually against the wall. The other boy spun to face Harry with a flourish. 

“The Golden Boy? Needs  _ my  _ help? What has the world  _ come to-” _

“Just get in here moron. Hermione and Ron are coming in a minute,” he said as the three of them continued down the hallway, Draco’s eyes never straying from Cedric for more than a few moments. It was pretty easy for him to roll with their newfound friendship with the Malfoy, him never much liking the animosity between the students anyway. 

They all sat around Harry’s room, Draco temporarily transfiguring a few chairs out of books while Harry and Cedric sat down on Harry’s bed, the younger looking around at the different decorations around the bedroom. It was pretty sparse, no quidditch posters or photos of family, just a few personal mementos littering the dresser tops and shelves. 

Cedric was brought out of his thoughts by the door opening, Hermione’s guilty face the first to walk in. “I got Ron, but Neville was there too, and- oh Draco’s here, nevermind then,” she said, walking in and transfiguring a few more chairs for her and the rest of the crew. Neville stared at him as he sat down. Cedric had to be honest, if Hermione hadn’t said it was him, he wouldn’t have been able to recognize the boy at all. 

After a few more moments of silence, Harry took initiative and spoke up, everyone turning to look at him on instinct. “I’m sure you all have a lot of questions,”

“Nah, mate,” Ron said, completely unimpressed. “Why would I?”

“Ah yes, another prime example of Weasley’s scintillating wit,”

“I gathered you here to help answer some of those questions, actually,” Harry continued, completely ignoring the other two as Ron flipped off Draco, the maliciousness Cedric would have expected in their 4th year completely absent. “Because I have absolutely no idea what the fuck happened. Hermione? Draco? I’m relying on you guys to help work out what could have possibly happened based on other resurrection rituals and such-“

“Why me?”

“Draco what? You were literally at the top of every class behind Hermione, why-”

“I know. I just wanted to hear you say it,”

Harry sighed, obviously familiar with this type of banter. “Ron? Neville? I need you two to just say whatever comes to mind. Logic is kind of out of the equation at this point, so whatever random you think of, I want you to just say it. This is judgement free you guys,” he said, directing the last bit to the rest of the room, “we can’t afford to think inside the box with this one,” 

Everyone in the room nodded, Hermione and Draco immediately getting up to head to the library, mumbling to themselves as they left the room. Ron and Neville scooted their chairs closer to the bed. “So uh,” Ron started, scratching his head as he tried to determine how best to word his question. “Do you remember it?”

“Remember what?”

Ron looked pained. “You know,” he said lowly, looking at Cedric apologetically but curiously. “Being dead?” Neville turned to him with wide eyes, clearly not consulted on the question. Cedric shrugged. 

“No, I uh,” he slouched down, dragging a hand through his hair. “I barely even remember the tournament, somehow, even though for me it was just yesterday,” he mumbled, looking down at his hands where he knew there should be scratches littering the palms from the obstacles during the third task. 

His skin was completely clear. 

Ron sighed in relief, nodding a bit. “I think that’s pretty lucky for you, mate, not remembering. I really don’t think I’d want to know,” he said, paling slightly at the thought. Cedric chuckled lightly in agreement, no real humor behind it. 

Neville spoke up at last, his voice significantly lower than Cedric remembered. “So how are you doing, though? I mean- everything’s different,”

He considered lying. Under normal circumstances he would have said ‘great’ and said something about how it’s a nice day, or how there isn’t much homework. It isn’t exactly believable though, to be able to find a silver lining like that in this current situation. 

“Bad,” he said, his voice cracking in the middle as he fought back tears. Neville’s eyes softened, and Harry turned toward him, resting a comforting hand on his own. Cedric swallowed, not wanting to cry again, but still not given the opportunity to just sit down alone and think about the past few hours and what they mean for the rest of his life. Ron opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a house elf appearing in the room. He walked over to Harry, handing him a piece of folded parchment. Harry smiled and took it. 

“Thanks, Poke. Hey, can you go tell Hermione to bring up some snacks and a change of clothes? Thank you, I appreciate it,” he said, waving slightly to the elf before it vanished from the room. He sighed,looking down at the short letter, the handwriting precise, graceful, and so relievingly familiar- McGonagall’s. 

Harry turned to him, a comforting smile on his face. “She sent a letter to your parents and said at the latest they’ll be here by tomorrow,” he told him, and Cedric let out a happy sigh with a shaky smile. “She also said she’ll start looking into the schematics of power gaining rituals to figure out what happened to you,” he said, quieter this time, but there was no avoiding the other two boys hearing them in the otherwise silent room. He nodded. Ron’s eyes darted between the two of them, bewilderment clear on his face. 

He opened his mouth to ask a question, but was interrupted by the door slamming open, Draco holding the door open with his side, his arms full of a stack of books, while Hermione stepped in, even more books balanced precariously against her chest. “Honestly we didn’t find a lot- just a few minor mentions in each book. But since I’m not an  _ inbred _ and don’t tear pages out of  _ books- _ “ she said, the last part directed at Draco, who rolled his eyes and snickered, “-we brought everything and just bookmarked the important pages,”

Ron nodded. “Ok, sounds good. Now let’s go back to what McGonagall was saying about power rituals,” Hermione and Draco both turned to face Harry. 

“Did you forget to mention something that could have potentially narrowed down our search criteria, Potter?” Draco asked, glaring at him as he set his stack of books down with an exaggerated thud. 

“Well first of all, what do you even mean when you’re saying powerful? Like what has he done?” Hermione asked, looking over at Cedric as if his appearance would tell her anything. 

“Well you know how the headmistress’s office has a floor?” Harry asked, smirking as Cedric blushed and buried his face in his hands. Everyone nodded, unsure where this was going. “Well you’re wrong actually, it does not have a floor. Not anymore,”

“He  _ what _ -”

“He vanished the floor!” Harry said, seeming terribly amused for someone talking about a teenager with immeasurable amounts of power. 

Hermione turned to face him, her rage and masking the fear she felt at the unknown lying before her in the form of her once dead friend. “And you didn’t think to tell us this earlier?” She seethed. 

“McGonagall said she’d take care of figuring that out, and that Harry would try to tackle the whole ‘undead’ thing,” Cedric spoke up, obviously afraid of Hermione. Draco sighed, taking pity on the two on the bed. 

“The problem is that Hermione and I were searching the library working on the assumption that nothing was out of the ordinary about your powers, Cedric, meaning we probably overlooked valuable information, or focused our efforts on things that aren’t necessary given the new information,” he explained in a tired tone showing just how used to Harry’s particular brand of thinking he was, despite only being real friends for less than a year. 

Harry nodded, accepting this. “Alright, I really missed the mark on that one, sorry guys,” he said, genuinely apologetic and mature. “The thing is that I’m not sure we can rule anything out even if it has nothing to do with power levels,” he started, standing up and walking over to the side of the room where a chalkboard covered in quidditch plays stood. He erased it with a flick of his wand, and while he did so Hermione walked over and placed a pile of clothes next to him on the bed. “See, Cedric woke up in the Room of Requirement- yes it still exists, it wasn’t destroyed,” he said when he saw Ron’s shocked expression. “The problem with that is that McGonagall said the Room doesn’t have any resurrection powers whatsoever, meaning it probably had  _ something  _ to do with Cedric coming back-”

“... but the cause will also be traced back to other things,” Draco finished, staring down towards his lap as he thought about it. “In which case we can’t pin blame to one particular thing, but more like a mix of unlikely occurrences,”

Harry smiled. “Exactly what I thought. So!” he said, ignoring Draco’s mockingly horrified expression at the admittance that they think similarly, and clapping his hands together before summoning a piece of chalk. “First thing we need to do is…” he started, clearly floundering. 

“We should make a list of things we know, that we can apply to things that could cause Cedric to come back to life,” Hermione said, summoning her own piece of chalk to write her thoughts on the side of the board. “Things like what Cedric remembers, exactly what happened the night he died, the date, any holidays near then-”

“- the weather, the phases of the moon, his zodiac sign, whether or not he knows latin, how often he bathes-“ the chalk continued writing even as Ron spoke. 

“ _ Shut it, Ronald, _ ” 

Cedric snickered, glad some of the tension had been eased from the room. “I mean it’s not that big of a deal,” he said, shifting nervously as a room of Almost Familiar eyes turned to face him. “I mean I’m back, you know? It’s not like there’s very much reason to dedicate all this effort into figuring this out,”

Hermione sighed, leaning against a dresser. “The problem, Cedric, is that because we don’t know how you’re here, we have no way of knowing if anyone else could come back, or if this is even permanent,” she explained, frowning slightly when Cedric’s face paled. 

Ron shrugged, shifting in his chair. “Also, over the last 7 years I’ve gotten pretty used to figuring out some crazy plot while also doing my school work. I’ve gotten so good at multitasking that my days seem empty without having to do some research on the side of my homework,” he said, only slightly joking, but smiling nonetheless when Cedric laughed a bit. “And I know none of us were really close a few years back, but you’re our friend, Cedric, so of course we’re going to help you,”

They smiled, and with that, the group was on their way, making their list of ideas that varied from ‘super realistic and likely’ to ‘we only put this on here because Neville hadn’t suggested one in a while and we didn’t want him to feel left out’. Somewhere in between him explaining the events of the night of the Tournament, and Harry telling the group exactly why muggle zombie movies were sources of information they should use, Cedric got up and asked Ron to lead him to the bathroom, wanting desperately to get out of his dirty ripped competitor’s outfit. 

While they were gone, Hermione tried to rein back in the group, focusing their attention on the list she had made earlier of things to focus on. 

“So what’s the date? The fifteenth? Draco are there any mentions in the book of holidays of something significant happening on September fifteenth?” Hermione asked, looking over at the blond as he flipped through the book. He squinted at the pages, and shook his head. “No, I mean it’s National Troll Appreciation Day but I don’t see how that’s relevant,” 

Hermione sighed, and crossed the date off her list of ideas. “Well there goes most of my ideas,” she sighed, turning back to look at a book she had gotten from the library. 

“Got any snacks?” Ron asked as he walked in, Cedric right behind him dressed in some of Ron’s old clothes from when he was in fifth year and had hit his first growth spurt. They both looked towards the board to see the progress, and Cedric’s eyes widened. 

“Wait, today’s the fifteenth?” he asked as he sat down on the bed again, accepting a biscuit from Neville. Hermione nodded. “Today’s my birthday,” he said, looking to her and Draco, hoping that would give them some ideas. 

“Yes I suppose it is your birthday in a sense, being reborn today and all that,” Hermione muttered, already facing the board again. 

Ron threw a biscuit at her head. “He means it’s the day he was actually born, frizzhead,” 

Draco jumped out of his chair, rushing over to a stack of books that sat previously untouched. “Dates are very important in Magic- anniversaries of things being the time when magic is most potent in any specific event or being. It’s why children often show signs of accidental magic in the months leading up to or following their birthdays, because their magic core is just beginning to form and is strongest around that time,” he explained, flipping through the book. ”It’s also why solstices are so important to wizards,” Hermione gasped. 

“So his magic was at its most raw and powerful state today, which probably gave him the extra power he needed 

“But- but I was dead!” Cedric said, looking around at the group, clearly confused and scared. “How could my magic have done anything? I was gone,” he suddenly clamped his jaw shut, clearly unwilling to think about it any further. 

“Fucking- Newton’s Law? Energy cannot be created or destroyed? Magic is energy so when a wizard dies their magic can’t just cease existing, it has to go  _ somewhere _ ,” Hermione said, getting more and more frustrated with their lack of progress by the minute. “I don’t  _ know, _ ok? Our whole hypothesis is based on assumptions, Cedric, and I don’t  _ know what to do _ ,” Ron got up and walked over to her, gently holding her arm as he put his other hand on her cheek, whispering calming words of comfort to her, making her take a deep breath. 

The room was silent for a few moments before a loud ringing broke the silence, everyone tensing as they looked for the source of the noise, startled. Harry shot up out of his seat, glancing around apologetically as he quickly hurried over to a small calendar on his desk. 

“I’m sorry guys, it’s an alarm for the full moon for Remus- I guess it’s,” he stopped, looking down at the calendar that had gone silent once he touched it. “I had charmed it to remind me of the full moon so I’d remember to write him a letter but now there’s… no use…” he trailed off, staring blankly at the calendar before shutting it suddenly, the quiet slam far louder than it should have been. Harry stood there for a few moments before swallowing with an audible click and making his way back towards the bed. 

Neville stood up, looking at the board covered in hastily scrawled ideas and scratched out theories. “I think we should continue with the birthday thing,” he said, turning to face the rest of the room, everyone's hearts clearly weighing more than normal in their chests. “Draco and Hermione are right- it’s the most likely theory we have so far, even if it doesn’t really make all that much sense yet,” he said, looking around hopefully at his friends. 

Cedric nodded, suddenly a bit more hopeful. “Ok, yeah,” he said, studying the chalkboard. “And maybe Harry’s right, and the only reason I’m alive is because of a bunch of random things all stacked up on top of each other,” he said. Draco and Hermione nodded, immediately diving into conversation about the different historical events related to birthdays, Ron and Neville occasionally giving their own thoughts. 

Harry shifted to face Cedric, the both of them sitting on Harry’s bed. “Don’t say it like that,” he said quietly, his expression pained. Cedric tilted his head in confusion. 

“What?”

“You said the ‘only reason I’m alive’ which just,” he shook his head, as if trying to dislodge bad thoughts. Harry grabbed Cedric’s hand like holding it would help him articulate his thoughts. “There are countless reasons you should be alive. If there’s ‘ _ one reason’  _ for something, it’s that the only reason you  _ died _ is because Peter Pettigrew is a bloody fucking murderer and Voldemort can rot in Hell-”

“Hey,” Cedric said, stopping Harry before he got red in the face. “You’re right, alright? I didn’t phrase it like that on purpose, I just,” he sighed, looking down at the hand that was now clenched tightly in Harry’s, “I really don’t belong here anymore,” he said, and suddenly Harry was incredibly glad that they were all in  _ his  _ room. 

He stood up, still holding Cedric’s hand. “Ok everyone, I think that was a really productive meeting, but it’s getting late and I know Hermione and Draco- you guys have early classes tomorrow. Everyone out, we’ll talk more in the morning,” he said, waving his friends out of his room, ignoring Ron’s complaints of ‘ _ it’s only 7 mate,’ _ and stood there quietly while Hermione got Neville to help her gather up all of the books they didn’t use to bring back to the library. 

After a few minutes, the room was empty, and Harry sat down again, both he and Cedric settling more comfortably in the middle of his bed. Harry reached out with his free hand to grab Cedric’s other, now both of his hands tightly wrapped up in his own. “You don’t feel like you belong?”

Cedric’s shoulders dropped, all of the tension and energy leaving his body in an instant, a tired boy remaining in its place. “I mean, look at you, Harry, yesterday for me you were a foot shorter than me and you blushed every time you saw me with Cho,” he said, laughing a bit at his memory of a 4th year Harry. “And now Cho, she’s what? 20?” at Harry’s nod, he continued. “She was my girlfriend, and then I was dead and now she’s an adult and all my friends are adults and graduated  _ years _ ago- or they’re dead! They died in a battle I wasn’t even there to see,” he said, tears pooling in his eyes as he spoke, but he didn’t move to wipe them away. “How could I belong somewhere I haven’t even been in 4 years? Everything is different now,” he choked out, finally pulling his hands away from Harry to rub furiously at the wetness on his cheeks. 

“I get what you mean,” Harry said quietly, chuckling a bit at the incredulous look shot his way. “Not about dying- I mean I  _ did  _ that, but just for a few minutes,” he continued, ignoring Cedric’s attempts for more information. “About the not fitting in thing, not belonging,” he sighed. “I don’t… have anything to do anymore,” he said, with all of the ineloquence of someone who was truly only voicing these thoughts for the first time. “Voldemort’s gone- thank merlin, obviously- but my whole life I’ve either been absolutely nothing, or the savior of the wizarding world,” he said, scowling a bit, his bitter tone showing just what he felt towards his predetermined fate. 

Cedric leaned forward, his eyes meeting Harry’s, filled with understanding and trust. “And now you don’t know what to do now that you’ve done it,” he finished. 

Harry nodded, falling onto his back on the bed, staring up at the blank ceiling above him. After a moment, Cedric lied down next to him. “It’s why I jumped right in to helping you- not that I wouldn’t have any other year, of course- but Ron had a point earlier,” he said, draping his arm over his face, his nose going into the crook of his elbow. “The school year has barely even started yet and already it had gotten so dull and- and I was so scared the whole time that once the school year ended- would I just go back into another cupboard under someone  _ else’s  _ stairs?” 

Cedric’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at this, but by the time he’d gathered his bearings enough to ask, Harry had already moved on. 

He laughed, a bitter, tear-filled laugh that Cedric knew would never see the light of day. “God, I don’t know why I told you all of this! I haven’t even told Ron n’ ‘Mione about any of this,” he muttered. 

“You’re just,” Cedric said quietly, looking over at Harry. “you’re really easy to talk to,” 

Harry nodded, then laughed again, this one filled with a bit more humor. “God, fuck me, I made this about my shit,” he sighed. “You excited to see your parents tomorrow?” 

Cedric nodded and smiled, the sudden change in tone a bit of relief. “My dad was the one who was really into the whole tournament so he showed up the most. I mean- my mom came to visit before the 3rd task but… it feels like-” 

“Like it’s been 4 years since you’ve seen her?”

Cedric sniffled. “Yeah,” Harry rolled onto his side, and patted him on the arm. They both grinned weakly at each other, clearly exhausted, both physically and emotionally. “I was always closer to my mom than my dad. I dunno,” he mumbled, shrugging as best as he could with a hand on his arm and him laying down on the bed, “My dad always liked to brag to his friends about how I got the best marks in my math class or how I was the best Chaser in our Primary School quidditch team, and I appreciate him and everything, but after I got home and my dad pinned my test to the fridge, my mom would come over and, and she would kiss me on the forehead and tell me ‘good job, love’ and she would give me a biscuit and sit there and listen to how my day went,” he said, tears welling in his eyes as he thought back to all the good days with his parents. Harry smiled, gently smoothing Cedric’s hair back from where it had fallen onto his forehead. 

“Well they’re coming tomorrow and you’ll get to see them. That’s something familiar in this new world, right?” Cedric nodded, a gentle grin lighting up his face. “They’re going to be so happy to see you, Cedric,”

At those words, Cedric frowned, his eyes shooting open in panic. “I was dead! I was gone and they mourned me for  _ years  _ and now I’m back. What am I going to say to them? What if they don’t believe me? What if- what if they’ve  _ moved on  _ and I-”

Harry sat up, looking at his friend with an intense look in his eyes. “Hey! None of that! They’re your  _ parents _ , Ced, they could never stop loving you no matter what. Yeah they’re going to be shocked and confused, but mostly? They’re going to be relieved. You’re their son,” he insisted, his voice softening as he watched the rapid rising and falling of Cedric’s chest slow as the boy calmed down. 

“Thank you,” he whispered, his voice raw. Harry smiled and lied back down, and the two talked about everything and nothing until all of the stars started twinkling in the sky, and they fell asleep to echoes of long gone howls in the full-moon light. 

***

The next day found Cedric in the courtyard, standing there anxiously in the biting September winds as he waited for his parents to arrive. Harry stood back near the doors next to McGonagall, the two now far too deeply invested in helping Cedric to let him out of their sight for too long. The headmistress had cleared out the area, allowing Cedric and his parents some privacy while they reunited, and also working to keep Cedric’s return from reaching public ears for just a little while longer. 

Harry and McGonagall knew there was no way to keep a secret such as this one from everyone in the school forever- what with Cedric’s unstable grip on his powers- and once someone at Hogwarts knew, their parents then knew, and then the Prophet knew, and then all of Wizarding Britain knew that Cedric Diggory was alive yet again. They were doing everything in their power to put that off for as long as possible. 

They didn’t have to wait long before there was a distinct  _ crack _ in the distance, the wards on the school alerting everyone that someone has apparated onto the grounds. Cedric’s nervous energy increased in the seconds it took for him to register the sound and connect it back to his parents, and his fidgeting and pacing sped up each minute it took them to walk from wherever they landed into the courtyard. 

It was an agonizing few moments between when they heard one pair of footsteps echoing on the stone floor of the yard, and when Harry and McGonagall both simultaneously realized exactly what it meant. 

Cedric’s father walked in through the gates at the far end of the courtyard. His father turned around and closed and latched the gates at the far end of the courtyard. No one else was coming. 

Harry’s face paled in time with his heart plummeting to the bottom of his chest. 

“Cedric? It’s… it’s true? You’re really here my boy!” Amos said, hesitantly walking forward, like if he walked too fast the illusion would break and he’d be childless again. 

Cedric nodded, excitement and confusion battling for dominance on his face as he rushed forwards, immediately being wrapped up in a hug from his father that no one was certain was ever going to end. “Dad!” he choked out, tears streaming down his face. Amos buried his head in Cedric’s hair, a stark contrast from his own now completely bald head. He had already gone grey decades before, so there was nothing more for his hair to do besides fall out these past few years.

“Ced! I’ve missed you, my son,” Amos said, tears welling up in his eyes, and he knew they would fall the moment he heard his son ( _ his alive, living, not dead son _ ) speak again, the moment all of the proof finally made itself known in his head and he truly understood that Cedric was back, and alive and well. “God, you haven’t changed a  _ bit  _ have you?” he muttered, knowing just yesterday he was celebrating what would have been his son’s 21st birthday with a bottle of whatever was strongest in the cabinet, until an owl had arrived at his windowsill. 

“Where’s- where’s mom? Could she not make it?” Cedric asked, the pain in his eyes and tension in his voice telling Amos that his son already knew fully well why his mother wasn’t in that courtyard with them. He sighed, the tears now freely falling down his weathered cheeks as he pushed his son back a bit to look him in the eyes, careful to never take his hands off of him, lest Cedric (or Amos himself) vanish without him there to ground him. 

“Cedric, your mother… she passed, three years ago,” Amos said, closing his eyes both in grief, and in cowardice. He was completely unwilling to look into his son’s eyes when he realized that his family was smaller than it had been seemingly only days ago. 

“What?” he asked, his voice breaking in the middle of the word, and it pained Amos to see his son like this, his normally happy and cheerful Cedric standing there burdened with the grief he himself was barely able to take on on a good day. “She took it really hard, when you-” he cut himself off, already trying to forget the time when Cedric was dead. “And then she got sick, and she didn’t… she didn’t have you there to get better for,” he said, a sob breaking through from his lips when Cedric wrenched himself out of his father’s grasp. 

“No!” he shouted, the force used to pull away from Amos tripping him, Cedric’s feet sliding on the dusty stone for a moment before he fell backward. “She isn’t- she  _ can’t- _ ” he started shuffling backwards, every place his hands or feet touched, the ground would crack, faults in the stone reaching up to a few feet away from Cedric before tapering off. He didn’t notice, but his father did, subconsciously trying to get away, eyes wide open in fear as he traced the growing cracks in the ground, before looking up and gasping in shock at his son. He had at first assumed the tears welling up in his eyes were reflecting the light of the morning sun, but after a moment Amos realized they were actually glowing on their own, the magic in his body so potent it was practically spilling out in the form of sparks dancing along his hands into the cracks in the stone he’d create with every handprint he made as he moved back. 

Harry and McGonagall rushed forwards, stopping in their tracks when Cedric leaned against the fountain in the center of the Courtyard, the moving water in it instantly turning to ice when he touched the wall of the pool. He let out a sob, and the ice exploded. It sent shards sailing throughout the yard, a quick  _ protego _ from everyone being the only thing protecting them from being ripped to shreds. 

After a few moments of the only thing happening being a normal teenager’s crying, Harry ran towards Cedric, before being shoved back by the sudden swirling wind forming a protective circle around Cedric. 

“ _ Cedric! _ ” He screamed, desperately hoping his voice would carry over the roar of the currents of air. Around him, the normal frogs and butterflies that were seen near the fountain and in the courtyard were rapidly transforming into different small animals before their eyes, the transfigurations happening quicker and quicker the closer they got to Cedric. Harry watched as a frog hopped up in the air and landed as a squirrel, and then stood up and took to the sky, suddenly a dragonfly. It looked like things were glitching in and out of existence, like in those futuristic muggle television shows. 

McGonagall and Amos looked on at Cedric, stuck in horror and fear, he assumed. But after a few moments of staring at the headmistress’s unblinking eyes, Harry realized she was truly stuck, unable to move. Cedric’s magic had completely frozen the adults in place. 

He rushed towards the wall of wind, deciding this time to try and go with the flow of the air while also standing his ground as to not get completely sucked in the vortex. He pushed through, the rough winds pushing at him, forcing him backwards as he tried to get through to Cedric. He caught his glasses right as they slipped from his ears, clenching them so hard in his hands the wire bent as he tried to walk towards the fountain, each step taking ages when he had to find his center of gravity every time he lifted his foot from the ground. 

Eventually he stumbled through the wind, now on the inside of the vortex with Cedric and the fountain. It was startlingly quiet, the harsh roar of the wind now gone. Harry’s ears were ringing with the new silence, and it took a moment for him to hear the only noise in the clearing- Cedric’s crying, and the faint strangled croak of a frog turning suddenly into a rat. 

He walked forward slowly, not wanting to startle Cedric into doing any more accidental magic, but he was beginning to realize that Cedric had no idea he was doing anything besides grieving, just like how in McGonagall’s office he had no idea he’d done any magic until well after it all happened. 

“Cedric,” Harry said suddenly, causing the other boy’s head to shoot up, startled, his glowing eyes red and puffy with tears streaming down his cheeks. “It’s time to calm down, love,” Cedric looked at him, confused and hurt, until he saw, out of the corner of his eye, his dad standing frozen outside a wall of winds that were slowing down as he became more aware of himself. His eyes started to dim, and the animals around him took one shape and stayed that way. The ice shards stuck into the plants and wooden features around the courtyard melted. 

Harry walked over and sat next to Cedric, watching as he tried to control his breathing and the winds around them slowed in time to the deep breaths he took. The cracks littering the stones on the ground didn’t mend themselves, but that was solved by a quick  _ reparo _ from Harry. 

He grabbed Cedric’s hand, not knowing what to think as the wind sped up for a moment, before rapidly slowing down until he could no longer see any trace of it, and the courtyard was still and silent once again. 

Too still. 

“Cedric, you have to unfreeze your dad and McGonagall,” Harry murmured, leaning over, his chin almost resting on Cedric’s shoulder. The other boy stared, horrified at his father and teacher, his mouth opening and closing like he was desperately trying to say something, but for the life of him couldn’t find the words. He shook his head. 

“I don’t- I don’t know  _ how.  _ I don’t even know how I did it so how can I undo it? They’re stuck there and I  _ did that to them _ and I don’t know how to save them-”

“Hey, calm down, Cedric it’s alright, we’ll figure out how to do it together, ok?” Harry said, reaching forward to grab Cedric’s other hand, staring intently into his eyes, trying to help him calm down. He nodded, eyes looking frantically between McGonagall and his dad, the two on opposite ends of the courtyard. “Take a deep breath with me, ok, like yesterday. And when you let it out- uh- imagine letting go of them, and- Merlin I sound like a yoga instructor- when you release your breath, release them, ok?” Cedric nodded, holding his breath as he looked at Harry in confusion at the reference to whatever muggle thing he was thinking of. He exhaled, trying to force some magic into it, similar to how he’d been told wandless magic was like by some of his teachers, but he could tell right now that those professors did not feel the energy and power deep in their cores that he felt right now. A tear rolled down his face. 

Slowly, like a machine being powered on after years of sitting abandoned, Amos and McGonagall regained function in their bodies. They started forward, each rushing towards Cedric, but their legs looked like they were walking through molasses, and they could barely move. After a few moments they started picking up speed, until eventually they both returned to normal, and they ran up to him, fear and concern obvious on both of their faces. 

“Cedric,” McGonagall said quietly, in a startling display of softness. “I think it would be best if we all went inside,” 

Around them, birds chirped, and Harry realized he had no idea if any of them had originally been birds at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have an update schedule, I’ll post when I remember this exists <3


End file.
